Chapter Fourteen
"He'll want me," Harry said. He crouched by the fire and a hundred bodies circled him listening. "I can be the bait. The Dark Lord's already lost Nagini and Pettigrew."
"He still has his strongest supporters, Harry," Lupin argued. "He will surround himself with Death Eaters and more than anything he wants your blood. He cannot find a cure for what ails him without it."
"Professor," Harry turned to Dumbledore, "if he got it would it cure him?"
"No, Harry, it would not. You forget that it was the combination of your blood mingled with something else that formed the potion. Remember?" Harry did remember. He had to ask his dead mother's permission to use her ashes to make the potion. Dumbledore went on, "The danger lies in the fact that he is not aware of it and he will seek to capture you for it." Dumbledore was sitting on a log pulled up for his benefit by Hagrid. "He will be well prepared for your arrival. He has bred many creatures and he'll have many spells that can trap anyone trying to get in. Ask his servant."
Harry turned to Marcuso who sat silently beside Tshaya; his frightened face illuminated by the blazing fire.
The man nodded and said, "I can show you where he is at, I think. But I could not tell you how to get in without being seen." He spoke in English so that the crowd murmured behind. "He will have an army surrounding him and Jeremy Potter will not let you near him." His face crumpled in fear when he spoke the man's name, but he continued, "Since the Dark Lord is not able to perform any magic he has surrounded himself with people who will protect him at all costs."
Macuso shuddered and went on, "Jeremy still has Kaldensky with him. There is a half-mad witch, called Lestrange who is with him at all times. There are others just as deadly. You are risking all these lives for the life of one. I would not do it."
"I seem to recall hearing those words from you before," Harry said. He surveyed the faces around him waiting expectantly for his orders.
And then, a old warbling voice spoke up in English; it was Tshaya, " I will tell you how to do this thing." Harry stared at her. He didn't know that she could speak English. He glanced at Jolie who was grinning.
"Tell us old mother," Jolie said and reached out to hold her hand which trembled with palsy.
She was looking at Dumbledore and smiling a toothless smile at him. "There is a story told to me as a child," she said. "You have heard this story I think. Let us tell it again." She spoke in the dark, the fire-sparks sizzling in her dark eyes. As Jolie translated, he began to nod and smile.
When she finished, Harry stood. "Professor McGonagall, I think I'm going to need your help with this one. The members of the D.A. join up over here so I can talk to you for a minute. You'll be apparating to the site." Dumbledore looked at him. "Sorry Professor, but it's my understanding Hermione and Ron have been teaching the D.A. to apparate."
"You do realize that's illegal Harry," Dumbledore said. He looked over the top of his half-eyeglass and shook his head slowly, stretched his hands out to the warming fire and said,. "Of course, I suspected as much."
Ron and Hermione took over the members of the D.A. that could apparate, and began separating people into groups.
Harry took Malfoy aside and said, "I want to talk to you before all of this starts." They stood in the dark. "I know that you know this Draco, and I didn't want to say anything in front of everyone, but your father's going to be there. He's a Death Eater and he could get killed or he could kill one of us. If you want to stay behind, no one will think badly of you or Crabbe or Goyle or any of the others. I'll stand up for you if they do." Harry was watching the pale face closely. He knew that Snape didn't trust Draco and he wasn't going to trust him very far either.
It was obvious Draco struggled with his feelings, and finally sputtered, "I'm going, no matter what."
"And if you have to…to kill your father…?" Harry asked. "Can you do that? Because if you do then you will become a Death Eater and there's no turning back"
"I'm going. I'll do what I have to do to get Professor Snape away from there," he said.
Harry nodded and turned to go. Draco grabbed his cloak, "And Potter, WE WILL settle our differences later."
"It'll be my pleasure, Draco," Harry responded quietly. He walked back to the group where Ron caught him by the arm.
"Do you trust Malfoy, Harry?" Ron asked. He watched the blond haired boy talking to the group of Slytherins that stood apart from everyone else.
"I don't know whether to trust him or not," Harry said, "but he's going no matter what."
"That's alright, mate," Ron said and, "I've got your back. See ya later." He led the way out of camp with his group to disapparate. Hermione was behind and went with her own group. They each carried a small crate.
Dumbledore stood and waited as little by little small groups disappeared in the dark. Professor McGonagall and Hagrid were busy with the rest.
"What job do you have for me, Harry?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly.
Jolie, Gregor and Pascal were waiting for him in the wagon.
"Professor, I hope you know that I never meant for this to be…" Harry spoke softly so that the others couldn't hear.
Dumbledore smiled, reached up and patted his arm. his voice was gentle when he spoke, "Harry, it is as it should be. You are strong and capable and you lead an army of people who will follow you. Did I not say this before, the strongest weapon you have is all around you."
"Yes, Professor, you did," Harry said and dropped his head. "I would never have believed it- even Draco. Everyone from different Houses," He looked into Dumbledore's face and it looked back, full of kindness and love, "I'll bring him back to you Albus."
The older man smiled, and murmured, "I know you will."
The old crone, Tshaya was waddling their way and Dumbledore whispered under his breath, "Perhaps when you return you can explain to Tshaya that, strictly speaking, I am not available." Dumbledore winked at Harry and smiled kindly at the old lady as she approached and spoke to him. Harry shook his head, laughing to himself as he watched Dumbledore talk to the old woman.
He traveled with Jolie, Gregor, Viktor and Pascal in their own special transport. The wagon seemed to move from road to road changing scenery and getting ever closer to their destination, and yet, the pace was not terribly fast. They road in silence. Harry tried to think through the plan that had hastily been developed. Always at the back of his mind, he thought of meeting up with Jeremy Potter again.
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They arrived in the valley below Snape Manor. It was an isolated place and woods surrounded the huge mansion set high on a hill. The pale quarter moon sat behind it and Harry thought he had never seen anything look so evil and ancient as the house on the hill. Its' dark windows glared out like the eyes of a skull; its' pillared entryway shone like wolves fangs glistening in the moonlight.
There were a hundred gables and chimneys that protruded from the roof. Harry stared at it as others began to apparate around him. If he had to guess, he decided there would most likely be several hundred rooms in the manor. There was no warmth in the grayed-out, crumbling stone walls of the house. It was encircled by a tall stone fence topped with wrought-iron black spires. Even with the moonlight, the place breathed darkness and absorbed light. It was all enveloped by a blue-gray mist. Harry had no trouble in believing the house was a possessed by a living spirit.
"Good heavens," Hermione breathed in awe, she was beside him. "It's hard to believe Professor Snape ever lived there! It's horrible." Others were gathering in the dark of the woods, waiting for him to give the signal. Ron joined them.
Harry had to agree with her. "It's also huge. Will you both make sure that they go in and then report back immediately. We don't want to have to rescue anyone else. Make sure everyone knows. Count heads if you have to."
The two left him and gathered the others around them, speaking in whispers.
Professor McGonagall stepped out of the darkness and said softly, "We're ready. Everyone knows what they are supposed to do."
"Go ahead then," Harry said. The people that had apparated to the spot set their individual cases they carried on the ground. They were filled with the restless, scurrying furry bodies of all the transfigured students that had offered to help him retrieve Snape. One-by-one McGonagall transfigured the remaining D.A. group who were also gathering nearby.
They too, became scurrying mice that rushed through the gated, iron-rail entryway to the grounds and up towards the house. It looked to Harry like a fast-moving, dark current of writhing , squirming bodies that rushed through every crack and opening in the gray stone walls, climbing over one another to get in.
Harry remained behind with Draco, McGonagall, and his gypsy family; Jolie, Viktor, Gregor and Pascal. Arthur and Molly Weasley and the other members of the Order moved away in the dark to take their positions around the outer boundary of the wall.
Harry nodded at Jolie and made a quick hand signal. Jolie, Gregor, Viktor and Pascal slipped off into the woods. They would be building a bonfire and Harry knew that within a short time there would suddenly be a thunderstorm the likes of which the neighboring villagers would talk about for years.
Marcuso stood motionless in the dark nearby. Harry watched him and thought, I will kill you in a heart-beat if you try and give us away.
Mice scurried through the tall tangled grasses of the grounds, through and around marshy patches until they reached the stone foundation of the house. Here and there were openings which led down into the cellars' some ran through broken windows. The house was abandoned and derelict and there were many tiny holes for the creatures to climb up and over. Through the walls and across dust covered floors they ran. The transfigured mice met their animal counterparts and were joined by at least three hundred other little souls that knew all of the animal trails throughout the vastness of the mansion. Their tiny, beady eyes and their sensitive noses followed trails in the dark.
The mice were not concerned with the enchantments that were set on doors and the coldness of the Dementors that stood watch in the shadows of the chambers, empty of furniture on the lower levels. Onyx marble hallways were lined with statues and dark mahogany cabinets with glass fronts. The glass was thick with dust and concealed the many foreboding articles within. Spiders spun their webs, their jointed legs moving eerily in the dark confines.
The mice ran through chambers that were dimly lit by moonlight, candelabras draped in webs like grotesque layered, wedding cakes stood on heavy furniture. Carpets covered in dust showed the tiny trails left by the invading army. It was all silent.
The flood of moving bodies flowed from one level to another, seeking out each room, each corner; memorizing the layout of the rooms and what was in them. One mouse sat in a hole in the wall, grooming its' whiskers and peering out into a room in the heart of the manor, one of few lit by candles and warmed by a fire. It observed and then turned and scurried back through the wall. Others took notice of two living figures in the bowels of the house. One was moaning in agony, the other laughing in maniacal madness as she screamed his name.
Mice scurried around the feet of two humans that walked the grounds; Death Eaters. One stopped and looked down and spoke to another, "It's gonna take a bit of doin' to clean this place up, idn't, Crabbe? Look at the mice, won't ya. The place is infested!"
"Aye, just stomp 'em," the other said, his voice was low and guttural and coming from a not so bright person. "I loik to 'ear their 'ittle bodies go crunch." The mice hurried away from the big boot that danced dangerously close.
Little by little, the mice gathered in groups of four and five and then into larger groups and began to exit the building the same way they arrived; back through the shadows of the overgrown vegetation and lawns to the safety of the wall and then the gate.
A wind began brewing and the trees overhead, leafless in the late Autumn night began to rustle and creak. Harry saw the first of the black billowing clouds rolling towards them with sharp shards of lightening and the low crack of thunder some distance away. McGonagall began the task of transfiguring the mice as they gathered at her feet. As planned, each student found their D.A. leader and transferred the information they had gathered.
Harry was impatient for the news to be brought to him. He gathered up some of the students and whispered hurried instructions, "Neville, you and Dean need to make sure all of these people get back to Hogwarts, make sure everyone is accounted for."
Neville looked at him, and whispered urgently, "I want to be here with you Harry."
"It's more important that no one gets left behind Neville. I have to trust someone to do that and I trust you," Harry said it with all of his heart.
Finally, Harry, Draco and Marcuso were left alone in the dark, the moon was covered by shroud-like clouds. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Ernie McMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Fred and George, and others from the D.A. were still inside the Manor, stationed throughout the rooms.
Harry had to raise his voice to be heard above the thunder. "Are you ready?" he asked his little group. Draco nodded and Harry turned to McGonagall and said, "Go ahead then Professor."
Professor McGonagall pointed her wand and changed the three of them into cats; Harry a black cat with lime-green eyes, Draco a Siamese and Macuso a tawny, striped tiger. She then changed into her animagus form; a tortoise cat. The four crossed the stretch from the woods to the gate and leaped through, tails high in the air. They bypassed the legs of the two Death Eaters, Crabbe and Goyle, that had been attempting to crush mice and around the corner of the house to the cellar windows. Lightening flashed and thunder boomed as they slipped into the dark cellar.
The black cat met a mouse and sniffed it. The mouse rose on its hind legs, its' pink paws in an attitude of prayer and met the nose of the cat. Something seemed to transpire between the two. The cat took off and the other three followed. Through tunnels and passageways, along dirt floors until the green eyes sparkled with the light from a dim lantern. It stopped and waited for the others to catch up.
McGonagall's figure elongated until she stood erect as her human self. With a swish the other three also transformed. Harry nodded to Draco and they both slid down the passageway until they could see the room in the lower part of the house.
Harry knew exactly who he was seeing when he looked. It was Bellatrix Lestrange dressed in ragged filthy robes of black. Her hair was wildly tangled around a bluish white face. She was laughing madly and Harry could see the insanity in her eyes. She also had a wand pointed towards Severus Snape who was chained to an iron ring embedded in the floor. He was writhing in agony, stripped to his waist with his muscles pulled taut from the spasms of her torture.
She was babbling, "Into the kettle the wizard was thrown, yelling death and murder while he lay dying, when all around the black smoke was blown and then spread wings, rose and went flying. Are you going to fly my friend, through the iron-barred window? Do you want to pick out my eyes and eat them for your dinner? Hahahah." She screamed in laughter and then hiding her mouth behind her hand, she snickered and pointed her wand at the writhing figure at her feet. "CRUCIO!" she said and Snape arched his back and cried out.
Harry stepped into the light, his wand held up and ready. "Stop!" Draco was behind him still in the shadows.
She froze and stared at him; and then she recognized who it was. "You!" she whispered in surprise. She turned her wand on him and started the incantation, but she was too slow.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Harry shouted and the green flash from his wand enveloped her. She fell back from where she was sitting, eyes still open and dead.
They both reached Snape at the same time. He was half-conscious and his face was covered in sweat and grim. His body was bathed in sweat and his wrists rubbed and bleeding from the chains.
"Professor Snape- Severus," Harry said, "ALOHAMORA," his wand tip unlocked the chain that held Snape's hands to the iron ring. They turned him on his back and Draco held his head while Harry poured a vial of fluid between his lips. Snape's eyes opened partially as the potion took effect.
"Potter," he whispered, "what are you doing here?" He squinted at Draco's face above his own. "Draco?"
"Yes, Professor it's me," Draco said, looking down at him. "We've come to get you out of here."
"Why?" Snape set up stiffly, holding himself steady with one hand on the floor. "Why did you come? It's too dangerous." He was looking at them dully and then he smirked at Harry. "Who all did you drag into this rescue attempt, Potter?"
"I see your attitude hasn't changed, Professor, Harry said, grinning. "Actually there were about two hundred students initially. Most of your House- actually most of the school came but there are only about ten now. Inside." He handed Snape the torn shirt he found laying on the ground and began to help him put it on when the man's hands trembled and dropped it. "I see he was kind enough to heal your back for you, but you look terrible. Can you walk? Draco help me get him up."
Snape was still looking at him, this time with a quizzical look on his face and repeated, "Two hundred?"
Draco finished for him, "Yeah, Professor McGonagall transfigured everyone into a mouse and then they scattered through the house…."
Harry interrupted him, "Can this wait? We have to get him out."
Snape was already trying to stand steady on his own. "Where's Jeremy?" Draco held one arm and Harry the other. He looked at them with some surprise, pulling his arms free. He did it with the manner of one who has just been wakened and is trying to adjust.
"We know where he is. People are keeping watch," Harry said. He was helping him put an arm into a tattered shirt while Draco helped with the other arm.
"It's one thing to get in Potter, it's another to get out." Snape was pulling on his robe that Draco handed him and seemed to be searching its' pockets. "He must have made it easy. He set a trap."
"No, Professor," Draco laughed. "Nobody knows. All we have to do is go back the way we came. McGonagall will just transfigure all of us again. She waiting just down the hall."
Snape paused for a moment and looked at the yellow-haired boy. "Your probably right Draco," he said it gently, "why don't you go ahead and catch up with McGonagall. We'll be right behind you." Draco's eyes lit up with the reassurance from Snape. "And Draco, your father is somewhere on the grounds. Do NOT go near him. Understand?"
Draco nodded and seemed to pale perceptibly. "Alright," he said, "but you'll be just behind, right?"
Snapped nodded to him like a drunk, half staggering and then righted himself. Draco left the room through the narrow passage.
Snape searched the room and saw Bellatrix lying on the floor. He bent and took her wand from her outstretched hand. She was staring at him with a surprised look on her face. "Did you do this?" he asked Harry, who nodded. "Filthy…," he said and rolled her roughly on her face. He stood bent, staring at her back, then turned to Harry. "Go with him."
"Where are you going?" Harry asked. Snape had turned and was leaving, crossing the room to another door. He was barely able to walk.
"I have to take care of something," Snape said.
Harry jumped into his path and barred the door. "You said we cannot kill him! Wait for another day." Although Snape was taller and heavier than Harry, Harry was still able to stop him with one hand. "Besides you're barely able to walk. What are you going to do? There are Dementors all over the place and Death Eaters all over the grounds. Draco is right, we can escape through the cellar. He'll never know we were here until he finds you gone." Harry pushed Snape in the chest and Snape's wand came up.
"Potter!" Snape hissed, pointing it at Harry's face. "I will use this." There was a mad glint in his eye.
"Professor Snape," Harry said harshly and pushed the wand to the side. "I'm not Jeremy, I'm Harry."
"Harry… Mr. Potter," Snape said, squinting through his hair dripping with sweat. "What are you doing here?"
"Professor…" Harry began. Before he could finish Snape was out the door and moving down the long corridor in the dark. All Harry could do was follow blindly behind him, gritting his teeth in frustration. They were heading into the house. Every step they took could expose them to the many things that Harry and the others had avoided by being transfigured. Harry wasn't sure Snape was even in his right mind, and they were moving ever faster away from the safety of the people who could be the most help.
They climbed stairs and entered a series of hallways. Harry could barely keep up.
What are you doing? He wondered as he tried to stay on the tail of the man. Your walking right to him!
"Professor!" Harry whispered. He felt like shouting it. "Stop, please stop."
Snape turned, a ray of moonlight pierced the stained glass window in the large, tiled hall and lit his face with a greenish tint. "What? Who are you? Why are you following me?" They stood near the large foyer at the front of the house and stairs that led to upper floors. In it's day it would have been a magnificent building. Now it resembled an elegant mausoleum made even more macabre by the brilliant flashes of lightening and the thunder that were coming ever closer.
Harry felt fear rising in his chest. Suddenly he knew what the problem was. He had possessed Snape's mind for a moment when they traveled through Dumbledore's mind while he was unconscious. Harry knew that Snape thought he was at home, in a time, almost forgotten. Harry knew Snape was going after his father, to protect his mother. Harry could almost see the eighteen year old Snape in front of him. Even Snape's voice had changed.
"Severus," Harry reached for him and said gently, "you can't go. Stay with me." He pulled at Snape's robes trying to guide him. "We have to go back this way."
"He's going to kill her, I have to save her!" Snape's voice was frantic and growing louder.
Harry wasn't sure what he was going to do but he knew he had to do it soon, even if it meant stunning the man. The sound of his voice was vibrating through the house, echoing in the large foyer. Harry hope that the thunder was drowning the noise. The noise was more frequent, shattering the calm with peal after peal. Harry did the only thing he could think of at the moment, he slapped Snape as hard as he could in the face just as a clap of lightening struck. The sounds melted together.
Snape's head snapped back and he wilted down to the floor, his head bent. Harry had hold of him by the back of the robes as he went down and stopped his fall, almost going to his knees with the attempt.
Snape looked up, blood trickling from his bruised mouth, "What the devil did you do that for, Potter! And why are you here?"
During the split second that lightening flashed he saw that Snape had come to his senses.
"We are in Snape Manor, Professor," Harry hissed, "and we are about to get caught by Jeremy Potter. Now you've got to come with me!"